Skiers and snowboarders make their way down a run as snow falls during a late season storm at Sierra at Tahoe ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, CA, Saturday March 29, 2014.

Skiers and snowboarders make their way down a run as snow falls during a late season storm at Sierra at Tahoe ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, CA, Saturday March 29, 2014.

Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle

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Sparse patches of snow coat the ground around Pyramid Creek near Highway 50 around South Lake Tahoe.

Sparse patches of snow coat the ground around Pyramid Creek near Highway 50 around South Lake Tahoe.

Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle

California drought: Downpours fall far short of ending crisis

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Snow surveyors are expected to tromp out into the Sierra powder Tuesday under a soft, steady patter of comforting precipitation, but the spring moisture is a cruel oasis in California's desert of drought, according to leading climate and weather gurus.

The pounding rain along the coast and fluffy snow in the mountains this week won't come close to solving the state's mounting water crisis, which has forced the state to turn off the spigot in many communities, a scenario that experts say is threatening farms, fish and homeowners.

"The drought is not only severe, but it is extensive," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit climate science and environmental research organization. "The demand for water exceeds the supply."

The best, most reliable measurement of California's water supply is the Sierra snowpack, which is why surveyors with the California Department of Water Resources go out to calculate the water content.

The Sierra now has an average of only 8 inches of water in the snow, based on measurements from 99 electronic monitoring stations. That's 29 percent of normal.

The averages will likely change as snow continues to fall this week and surveyors take measurements. Still, water department officials do not expect the water content to go much above a third of normal for this time of year.

"The first significant precipitation in weeks likely will be too little and too late to have much impact on this year's severe drought," a department news release stated. "Snowpack and rain measurements are so far below normal for this time of year that even sustained rainfall over the next several days, as is predicted, won't end the drought."

Calculating year's supply

The April 1 snowpack measurements are crucial because they are used by water resources officials to calculate the water supply for the rest of the year. That's because snow levels historically do not increase after April Fool's Day. The snow that melts after that date contains up to 60 percent of the water that is captured in California's reservoirs. It is the primary source of irrigation for 8 million acres of farmland and is used to quench the thirst of most of the state's 38 million people.

The storms have improved the overall situation, but rainfall in Northern California is still only a little over 50 percent of the historic average, department officials said. Consequently, water levels behind the state's biggest dams are only about half of their capacity.

Lake Oroville, the primary storage reservoir for the State Water Project, is at 48 percent of its capacity, which is 63 percent of average for this time. Shasta Lake, which is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project and is the largest reservoir in the state, is at 48 percent of capacity, or 59 percent of normal.

The San Luis Reservoir - an important summer supply pool for both the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, is 42 percent full, which is 46 percent of its historic storage level.

Scrambling for solutions

The drought situation has forced farmers to pull out almond trees and leave fields bare. Many are scrambling to put in wells, which has raised concerns that Central Valley ground levels could sink and the water table could be degraded by salt and leaching chemicals as the aquifer is depleted.

Agricultural interests and Republicans in Congress have been pushing the state to loosen water restrictions designed to help endangered and threatened fish species, such as the delta smelt. There is also a major push to build more dams.

Reps. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove (Sacramento County), and Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County), recently introduced legislation that would require a feasibility study for the Sites Reservoir near Maxwell (Colusa County). Proposals to raise the height of Shasta Dam and build a dam at Temperance Flat, flooding scenic canyons along the San Joaquin River, are also being pushed.

The demands for more water storage prompted Gleick and representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council to demand Monday that the state instead improve agricultural and urban water use efficiency.

Doug Obegi, the staff attorney for the defense council, said the Shasta and Temperance Flat dam projects would cost $3.5 billion. On the contrary, he said, conservation programs - including recycling plants, storm-water recapture and groundwater recharge storage systems - would capture more water and cost significantly less.

"The NRDC has significant concerns about the cost-effectiveness of the big storage plans," Obegi said. "By and large, investments in storm-water capture, recycling and other 21st century solutions are much more cost-effective."

Early hiring for fire season

Gov. Jerry Brown, who declared a drought emergency in January, has ordered the state to facilitate water transfers and reduce water use in government. Some local water suppliers and municipalities have already ordered water rationing.

The rain didn't stop the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection from announcing Monday that hundreds of seasonal firefighters are being hired across the state because of the dry winter. It is the earliest the department has begun hiring for the fire season.

Chief Ken Pimlott, the Cal Fire director, said wildfires have charred more than 2,300 acres since January, more than double what normally burns during winter and early spring.